The invention concerns a bar-shaped closure, especially for sheet metal locker doors, comprising an actuating device on the external surface of the door leaf and rotatable between an open position and a closed position, wherein the rotational movement of the actuating device via a mechanism can be converted to longitudinal displacement of at least one locking rod on the internal side of the door leaf parallel to the door edge.
EP 0 261 267 B1 describes a bar-shaped closure with the aforesaid features. In the known bar-shaped closure the actuating device constituting, e.g., a handle, can be moved in a plane parallel to the plane of the door leaf so that the actuating device passes through the door leaf with an actuating shaft. The mechanism for converting the movement of the actuating device to a longitudinal displacement of at least one locking rod comprises a pinion that is borne rotatable in a corresponding lock case and that is driven by the rotatable actuating shaft, and the exterior teeth of the pinion engage in a corresponding recess of the locking rod. If a pivoted lever is provided for the actuating device in the known bar-shaped closure, the pivoted lever is arranged such that in its rest position it drops into a base plate and can be locked therein.
The known bar-shaped closure, especially in regard to the embodiment of the actuating device as a pivoted lever, suffers from the disadvantage that two different motions are required to release or lock the rod. Once unlocked, first the pivoted lever must be opened out of the base plate, for which purpose a spring support is generally attached, and then the pivoted lever must be moved parallel to the plane of the door leaf as a rod drive. In addition, the lock case required for the mechanism for receiving the pinion and the rod driven thereby must necessarily comprise a plurality of components and therefore must be pre-assembled, which is a complex and expensive undertaking. Finally, a special step is required for holding and attaching the lock case when the rod-shaped closure is installed on a door leaf.
The object of the invention is therefore to fabricate a bar-shaped closure with the generic features that comprises fewer individual parts, and in particular furthermore to simplify its assembly and use.
This object is achieved using the contents of the claims, including advantageous embodiments and further developments, subsequent to this specification.
The main idea for the invention is that the actuating device has a hand lever capable of pivoting by being pulled outward relative to the door leaf about a hinge line axis that is parallel to the door edge, and that a first bearing designed for one end of a Z-shaped drive lever is located fixed on the hand lever inner surface oriented towards the door leaf and the other end of the Z-drive lever is located in a second bearing capable of sliding relative to the door leaf, wherein the second bearing is coupled with the locking rod by means of an articulation passing through the door leaf. The idea for the invention thus is based on the principle of simplifying the mechanism so that the pivoting motion of the hand lever away from the plane of the door leaf, which in the prior art consists merely of opening out the lever from the base plate, is immediately converted to the longitudinal displacement of the locking rod. The mechanism required for this comprises the Z-drive lever, which when the hand lever is in its resting position is inserted at the distance required between the hand lever and door leaf. Since the drive lever at its one end is mounted on the hand lever in the fixed first bearing formed there, moving the hand lever away from the door leaf plane and thus increasing the distance bridged by the drive lever necessarily leads to a linear relative motion of the second bearing arranged on the door leaf side for the other end of the Z-drive lever. This linear relative movement of the second bearing is immediately converted to the linear displacement of the locking bar.
Thus the construction of the rod-shaped closure is advantageously simplified since the arrangement of a complex lock case is no longer necessary and furthermore the recesses in the locking rod are also no longer necessary. The actuating device can be pre-assembled with the drive lever arranged thereon so that only one pre-assembled component has to be attached to the door leaf. Finally, handling of the rod-shaped closure is simplified because the hand lever merely has to be pulled away from the door leaf plane or pressed against the door leaf in order to effect the unlocking and locking motion of the associated locking bar.
In accordance with a first exemplary embodiment of the invention it is provided that the second bearing of the drive lever is connected to a link that on the door leaf side is capable of pivoting around an axis and that at its one end has the axis and at its other end has the articulation for the locking rod, wherein the second bearing of the Z-drive lever is arranged with a lever arm effective to the axis at the link. Thus in this embodiment the linear displacement of the second bearing of the drive lever is converted to a pivoting motion of the link fixed on one side, the length of which is such that the articulation at its other end describes an essentially linear path. The displacement travel for the locking bar coupled to the link can be established by selecting the distance between the second bearing and the axis for the link, with the operating travel of the hand lever remaining the same.
Alternatively it can be provided that the second bearing of the Z-drive lever is arranged on a slide means that on the door leaf side linearly is slidable in the shift direction of the locking rod to be the carrier of the articulation for the locking bar.
Since the drive lever is displaced laterally when the hand lever is pivoted, and not just tilted in its longitudinal axis when the hand lever is pivoted, in accordance with one exemplary embodiment of the invention it is provided that the first bearing and the second bearing have a cap-shaped cup for receiving bearing spheres located at each of the ends of the Z-drive lever. This embodiment of the first and second bearings as sphere bearings ensures the necessary degree of freedom of movement for the drive lever.
In accordance with one exemplary embodiment of the invention, the actuating device is embodied as a box-shaped component that is arranged on the external surface of the door leaf and the front surface of which faces away from the door leaf and can be pivoted away as the hand lever and the back wall of which is adjacent to the door leaf and is embodied as the carrier for the slidable second bearing for the Z-drive lever arranged between the hand lever and the back wall. The advantage of this embodiment is that the box-shaped component is pre-assembled as a unit so that this box-shaped component is attached to the door leaf as a unit. In this instance the door leaf merely needs to have the slot for passing through the pin acting as the articulation, wherein the locking rod can be attached directly to this pin.
Finally, in an arrangement of two opposing slidable locking rods it can be provided that two drive levers are arranged and each locking rod is coupled to one of the drive levers that are offset 180xc2x0 relative to each other.